80th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

GHS Is 80 Years Strong

On February 25, 2017, the Glencoe Historical Society Board of Directors and guests gathered at the North Shore United Methodist Church to celebrate a special milestone for the organization. GHS turned 80 years old.

The residents who gathered at the Glencoe Public Library on a Sunday afternoon in late February 1937 to take steps to preserve the history of the community for future generations would not have believed how far the group they founded has come. GHS began with a collection of documents stored in two file cabinets in the library. Today, it boasts two museum buildings (one with a research center) and garden and two national awards for outstanding work.

The anniversary celebration, entitled “Let the Good Times Roll,” was a Mardi Gras themed party. Wine and catering for the event were generously underwritten in part by the Glen Club. A generous contribution for underwriting catering was also received from Bill Fritz and Tom Gosline. Guests enjoyed cocktails and a delicious Cajun dinner buffet specially prepared by Blair Carothers Catering in church community rooms decorated with balloons, beads, masks and fleurs-de-lis.

GHS President Peter Van Vechten welcomed the crowd and enhanced the celebratory mood with the announcement that GHS has received a substantial gift from the Seymour H. Persky Charitable Trust to rebuild the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed waiting station that once stood at the intersection of Maple Hill and Old Green Bay Roads. The gift, in Memory of Seymour H. Persky and Jonathan E. Persky, will get GHS “well on its way” toward finishing this legacy of the Wright in Glencoe Ravine Bluffs Centennial.

After welcoming new Board members Barbara Davis and Edward Olinger, Van Vechten led a Mardi Gras parade that featured “floats” of models of the Wright Waiting Station, the GHS Museum building and an 80th birthday cake. Revelers then danced the night away with music provided by the Pipes and generously underwritten by Board member Howard Siegel and his wife, Susan Solway.

Although many things have changed in the 80 years since the GHS was formed, one thing has remained constant: the Glencoe Historical Society is maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers whose primary goal is to preserve the history of their community. Thanks to all of the individuals who have contributed their time, talent and treasure for the benefit of GHS over the past 80 years, the organization begins its ninth decade as strong and committed as ever.